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Law With A Life Of Its Own: The Development Of The Federal Income Tax Statutes Through World War I, Stephanie H. Mcmahon

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This manuscript examines the development of the federal income tax within the United States fiscal system from the founding of the nation through World War I. The study reveals that, although the tax had become a permanent feature of the tax system by World War I, congressional debates had focused primarily on whether there should be an income tax as opposed to how it should or would operate in practice. This paper argues that the technical aspects of this tax received surprisingly little congressional attention because when the tax was originally passed it was a marginal revenue measure. Laden with …